Learning speed and capability vary widely among students for many uncontrollable reasons. Such variations in the speed and capability, particularly of students learning to read, have been a problem in a modern society which relies upon a teaching professional to teach several students of diverse abilities in a classroom atmosphere. It is not unusual that some students in a mixed capability classroom are slower or less capable learners than others and are left behind as the faster and more capable learners advance. Thus, the teaching professional is left with the dichotomy of either slowing down the teaching process to accommodate the less skilled to the disadvantage of the more skilled, or maintaining a pace which allows the less skilled to fall behind. Attempts have been made to form classes into more closely equivalent learning groups, but such equivalency is difficult to assess and can still work to the disadvantage of those who fall marginally within the assessment boundaries.
Of particular concern are those students who may have learning disabilities which are severe and require constant repetition to overcome. Even in an ideally equivalent classroom structure, such students tend to need more personal supervision and input from the teaching professional. Such needs are time demanding and controvert the economies and efficiencies of classroom teaching. School systems have sought to resolve the problem by augmenting their classroom staff with reading and special education professionals who interact with individuals in separate sessions, in addition to and/or together with group classroom work. Such augmentation is expensive and can deny the disabled the full benefit of the classroom experience enjoyed by his/her classmates.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a device for augmenting reading skills which requires minimum supervision.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a device for augmenting reading skills which is controllable by the user.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a system for augmenting reading instruction which coordinates visual, hand and auditory senses.
These and other objects of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.